Out of the darkness and gloom of Portsmouth’s season seemed to appear a small ray of light in the contribution of Frederic Piquionne.
After moving to Fratton Park on loan from Lyon, Piquionne contributed vital goals in some memorable victories. The supporters will fondly remember his goal against Liverpool in the league and against Birmingham and Tottenham that led Portsmouth to the FA Cup final.
Well travelled amongst clubs within France, Piquionne began …
According to The Daily Mail, Birmingham City have had an £8million bid for Roman Pavlyuchenko rejected by Spurs. The imminent arrival of Monaco forward Eidur Gudjohnsen has seemingly spelt the end for Pavlyuchenko and could also put Robbie Keane’s future at White Hart Lane in doubt.
Spurs value the Russian at £10million and will, no doubt, try to recuperate as much of the £14million they spent on the player in 2008.
West Ham …
Iceman Eidur Gudjohnsen is on the verge of joining West Ham United for free after completing a medical on Tuesday night. According to the Daily Mail the Monaco forward will be a West Ham player by the time you’ve buttered your toast after the Ligue 1 side agreed to let him leave for nothing. He will join Benni McCarthy at Upton Park as the Hammers stage a late raid on the …
Monaco striker Frederic Nimani is believed to be the centre of many managers attention this January, with both Birmingham and Burnley interested in the youngster.
Nimani, 21, is reportedly in England discussing terms with several clubs and the 6ft 4in striker is expected to make a move to the Premier League in the near future however, his destination is unknown.
The striker, who scored 7 goals in his first full season with the …
If Liverpool fans are looking for a transfer that can act as an effective comparison for this dreadful season, then the signing of Fernando Morientes could well be the perfect example. Before he played a game much was expected and great fanfare was given for what could be achieved and in the end, despite the occasional moment of class, it ended in bitter disappointment all around.
To be fair to Rafa Benitez, in January 2005, there were not many better strikers around available for £6.3m. This was a player who averaged nearly a goal a game for Spanish giants Real Madrid, despite being forced to play as a substitute in many games due to Real signing Brazilian striker Ronaldo. On loan at Monaco the previous season, the Spaniard had netted 10 goals in 28 games and had terrorised Chelsea’s defence in the semi final, scoring home and away to send Monaco through to the final (where they would eventually lose to Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto side). Very few people at the time thought that this deal could be anything less than a success and certainly everyone had high hopes of the transfer being one of the best of Benitez new reign at Anfield.
Sadly for Morientes and Benitez it never worked out that way. Although Liverpool fans were given glimpses of the quality that Morientes possessed, such as his brace against Middlesbrough at Anfield in a 2-0 victory, Morientes form at Anfield was never consistent. Too often he was on the fringes of game and seldom involved. His confidence seemed to be at a low ebb and he struggled to convince the Anfield crowd, so desperate for him to be a success, that he could take on the goalscoring mantle at the club. More worryingly, he was not convincing his manager either, despite being given plenty of playing time. 18 months after signign, Morientes had played a grand total of 61 games for Liverpool, but only scored 12 goals and his form was so poor that Rafa Benitez deemed him surplus to requirements, letting the striker leave the club for an undisclosed fee (believed to be less than half what the club paid for him) to go back to Spain and join up with Benitez’s former charges Valencia.
It is difficult to ascertain why Morientes wasn’t a success at Anfield. He certainly had all the attributes to be as much of a success at the club as any striker Liverpool have had in recent times, including Fernando Torres. His lack of pace is sometimes cited as a reason for his failure in England, but that is perhaps an unfair judgement as his lack of pace never influence his performances for Real Madrid or Monaco. Morientes seems to have been the victim of a clash of cultures more than anything else. His languid, loose, fluid style of play is perhaps more typical of someone like Dimitar Berbatov, another player who has had his struggles, and a player like that needs a team to play a certain way to bring the best out of them. Like United and Berbatov, Liverpool and Morientes didn’t quite suit each other and as the Spaniard’s confidence deserted him, the problem just compounded itself.
So don’t believe the hype, Morientes transfer wasn’t the worst in the world by any means. It made perfect sense at the time and he was a fantastic player. It just didn’t work out for a variety of reasons and factors which is a great shame as he could well have been the perfect predecessor before Liverpool signed Fernando Torres.
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce is set to launch a bid to bring Eidur Gudjohnsen back to the Premiership.
The Icelandic forward who joined Monaco on a 2 year deal in the summer after becoming surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp has made 8 appearances for the club and Allardyce feels a bid of £2m could be enough to bring the striker back to England.
His father and agent Arnor Gudjohnsen said:
“I am …
The Sun have today claimed that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is readying a £55 million January shopping spree to re-ignite Chelsea’s title challenge after a run of disappointing results. The shopping list is believed to contain several names, many of which are back-ups to his two main targets; Argentinean Sergio Aguero and Croatian Jerko Leko. Aguero’s is a name that all football fans will be familiar with. …
French newspaper L’Equipe are reporting that Blackburn Rovers are ready to make a move for former Monaco midfielder Camel Meriem. The 30 year old spent four years with the principality club after successful spells with Sochaux, Bordeaux and Marseille which had led to an international cap. He was released this summer though with Monaco having signed other midfielders who were put ahead of Meriem in the pecking order.
Blackburn, whose season has been …
When Arsene Wenger came to the Premier League in 1996 English domestic football was in good health, but Wenger helped to take the standard in the Premiership up another level and transformed the league. What Wenger has achieved at Arsenal is nothing short of remarkable, as he turned the Gunners into a great team that played nothing short of exceptional football. Does Wenger deserve the mantle or being the
There is a lot more to Glenn Hoddle than him simply being the former manager of Chelsea, Tottenham, Southampton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swindon Town and being the England manager sacked for making really dodgy remarks about disabled people. Before Glenn got all happy clappy and judgemental, we must remember that he was certainly one of the finest players ever to pull on a shirt for Tottenham Hotspurs, Monaco and England.
Hoddle was often described as being “before his time”. Sadly in the 70′s and 80′s this was often a euphemism for “A talented player, but won’t tackle.” This is akin nowadays for criticising Zinedine Zidane for not being Didier Deschamps. He made his debut for Spurs in August 1975 and over the next few years proved himself an immaculate passer of the ball, hugely creative, inventive and intelligent in possession and averaged nearly a goal every four league games, many of which were of an unsurpassable quality, as shown in the video below.
His time at Spurs ended in 1987 when he joined Monaco and proved an instant hit leading his new team to the league title. Indeed such was Hoddle’s effect on his new paymasters that many French football legends queued up to question the wisdom of successive England managers who only used the mercurial talents of the midfielder sporadically. His 53 caps a meagre return for a player of such immense talent. As Michel Platini pointed out when stating that had Hoddle been born French, “he would have won 150 caps.”
Hoddle’s managerial career was less auspicious. He led Swindon to the Premier League in 1993nd quickly joined Chelsea where he impressed the FA enough to appoint him as Terry Venables successor as England manager in 1996. Unfortunately this is where it all started to go a little sour for Hoddle, who drew criticism for appointing a Faith Healer as part of the squad (The aromatherapist had to withdraw from the squad with catarrh), criticising his players unduly and then the FA finally had to sack him in February 1999 after he had made his ill-judged remarks about disabled people during an interview with the Times newspaper.
“I hear Glenn Hoddle’s found God…Must have been one hell of a pass…” Jasper Carrott
Hoddle continued in football with Southampton, Tottenham and Wolves with mixed results, however it is as a player where Hoddle earned his place in the FootballTransferTavern hall of fame. Well it isn’t likely to be his contribution to pop music is it?
Hoddle had his problems and fallibilities as a manager but as a player, he was peerless. As Arsene Wenger stated when he was his manager at Monaco, Hoddle was a player “ahead of his time”. He could have been England’s ‘Zidane with a mullet’ and as such he is a worthy entry into the legends Hall of Fame.
